November 20, 2006


His Excellency the President of the Republic of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashwili
and
His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gela Bejuashvili
Tbilisi, Georgia

c/o Permanent Mission of the Republic of Georgia to the UN
New York, NY fax 001 212 759 1832
To the staff of the Mission: Please help us forward our concerns to the relevant authorities in Georgia. Thank you.

Re: Mr. Dursun Ali Kücük, writer in prison in Georgia

Your Excellencies:

I am writing on behalf of International PEN, the largest worldwide association of writers, to plead for my colleague, the Kurdish writer and member of the Kurdish PEN Center of International PEN, Mr. Dursun Ali Kücük, imprisoned in Georgia. He was sentenced to three years in prison and now suffers from tuberculosis.

Mr. Kücük is not a violent person or a criminal, but a professional writer. He suffered problems in the land of his birth, problems which many Kurdish people have had with the Turkish government, and he could no longer live there safely. After a stay in Germany he had entered Georgia to seek asylum.

We ask you to intervene to have Mr. Kücük released to attend his health problem. We also beg you not to consider sending him back to his country of birth, as this would put his life in danger.

Sincerely,


Lucina Kathmann
International Vice-President, International PEN